First Nations Forward

Produced in collaboration with the Real Estate Foundation of BC, I-SEA, Vancouver Foundation, Vancity, Catherine Donnelly Foundation, Donner Canadian Foundation, Clayoquot Biosphere Trust, Victoria Foundation and the Port Moody Foundation. National Observer retains full and final editorial control over the reporting.

“Will aunty die from the virus?” Andrea Landry's three-year-old daughter asked her one morning while they were playing quietly on the floor. Landry recognized her daughter's fear, and she recognized her own. She knew this pandemic was an invitation to feel complicated emotions, but also a time to look to traditional knowledge systems, to survive in the same way as her ancestors did.

Just a few generations ago, Tlaook, a Nuu-Chah-Nulth ancestor of the Tla-o-qui-aht nation led families to a safe place of refuge in their territory to wait out fatal diseases European settlers brought to the coast of B.C. When the people returned, many had died, but the story of the importance of preserving the land during times of pandemics lived on and continues to shape the nation's work.